In the previous post in this series, I argued that the Christian apologist James Sire makes a fundamental mistake in his book Naming the Elephant, by defining “a worldview” as being a kind of commitment. A worldview is something that can be true (or false), but a commitment is NOT something that can be true (or false); therefore, a worldview is NOT a commitment.

One can have a strong belief or “intellectual commitment” towards a worldview, but in that case the worldview is the OBJECT of the commitment, not the commitment itself. Although there are some other interesting points made by Sire in this book that are worth considering, because Sire’s concept of “a worldview” is fundamentally flawed, I’m going to set that book aside for now, and move on to consider another book by a different author who has also done much thinking about the concept of “a worldview”.

Ninian Smart is a recognized expert on religions, and in his book Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs (3rd edition, 2000; hereafter: Worldviews), he advocates that the scholarly study of religion be conceived of, and engaged in, as “worldview analysis”. An important part of “worldview analysis” is that it encompasses the examination of both traditional religions (e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) and secular ideologies (Marxism, Secular Humanism, etc.). In terms of my purposes here, concerning clarification of the concept of “a worldview”, Smart makes the interesting and plausible claim that a worldview involves six “dimensions”:

The doctrinal or philosophical dimension

The narrative or mythic dimension

The ethical or legal [dimension]

The ritual or practical dimension

The experiential or emotional dimension

The social or organizational dimension

(Worldviews, p.8)

This six-dimensional approach to worldviews appears to be contrary to my cognitivist view of religions and worldviews, since only the first of the six dimensions (doctrinal or philosophical) appears to focus on beliefs or claims. However, Smart’s six-dimensional approach seems quite sensible and plausible. Of course religions and ideologies involve narratives/myths. Of course religions and ideologies involve ethics or laws. Of course religions and ideologies involve rituals or practices. It seems undeniable that religions and ideologies generally manifest all six of these dimensions, and thus that beliefs and claims are only one small aspect of religions, ideologies, and worldviews.

If I am to maintain my cognitivist view of religions and worldviews, then I need to explain and justify my viewpoint in relation to Smart’s interesting and plausible six-dimensional approach to religions and worldviews. It is tempting to just say that Smart is right that religions and worldviews have these six dimensions, but that I am only interested in the first dimension (the doctrinal or philosophical dimension).

The doctrines of a religion or worldview can be analyzed and evaluated in terms of truth (or falsehood). The philosophical beliefs/claims of a religion or worldview can be analyzed and evaluated in terms of truth (or falsehood). Since my concern is with the evaluation of the truth or falsehood of beliefs/claims that are “contained” in a religion or worldview, I could just focus on the first dimension, and do so while acknowledging that there are other aspects of religions and worldviews that I am setting aside and ignoring.

But while this is a tempting route to take, I think it fails to recognize the central role that beliefs and claims play in religions and worldviews. My task, then, is to try to maintain the centrality of beliefs and claims in religion and worldviews, while also recognizing that religions and worldviews generally do involve the six dimensions to which Smart draws our attention.

First, I wish to point out the apparent centrality of beliefs/claims in Smart’s discussion about the concepts of “a religion” and “a worldview”. The very title of his book suggests the centrality of beliefs:

Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs

Note that Smart did NOT use any of the following alternative titles:

Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Myths

Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Laws

Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Rituals

Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Experiences

Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Emotions

Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Organizations

Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Institutions

So, the very title of his book elevates “beliefs” above other aspects of religions and worldviews, thus suggesting that the first dimension (the doctrinal or philosophical dimension) plays a more important role than the other dimensions, perhaps a central role.

Also, in the introduction, Smart says things that also suggest the centrality of “beliefs”. Here is a comment from the very first paragraph of the Introduction:

…at the level of everyday life, a knowledge of worldviews is increasingly significant. First, civilizations are importantly interwoven with them. Whether you believe them or not is beside the point. (Worldviews, p.1, emphasis added)

Smart immediately characterizes a worldview as something that can be believed (or not believed). Smart does not speak here of rituals, experiences, or institutions; rather, he speaks of belief, which suggests he is focused on beliefs or claims involved in a religion or worldview, and thus is focused on the doctrinal or philosophical dimension of religions and worldviews.

Another comment from the very first paragraph also supports the centrality of beliefs/claims to religions and worldviews:

Second, religious values and more broadly those of worldviews are in debate among the humanities. Anyone who reflects about human values has to take into some account the values of the religions. (Worldviews, p.1, emphasis added)

Although “religious values” could be taken to include the “ethical or legal dimension”, the word “values” encompasses more than just moral values; it encompasses any sort of norms and any sort of evaluation. Also philosophy encompasses ethics, so the “ethical or legal dimension” clearly has significant overlap with the “doctrinal and philosophical dimension”. (Perhaps “ethical” refers to fairly specific rules and norms of behavior while the “philosophical” dimension includes more general ideas and principles regarding morality and behavior.)

In any case, if “religious values” and “worldview values” are “in debate among the humanities”, then Smart is clearly talking about something that is intellectual or cognitive in nature. He is presumably talking about claims or beliefs concerning how people ought to behave or what people ought to care about. Once again, this is an indication of the importance or centrality of the doctrinal or philosophical dimension of religions and worldviews.

The second paragraph of the Introduction also suggests the importance or centrality of beliefs/claims in religions and worldviews:

The modern study of worldviews…explores feelings and ideas and tries to understand what exists inside the heads of people. What people believe is an important aspect of reality whether or not what they believe is true. (Worldviews, p.1-2)

Here Smart mentions “feelings and ideas” in summing up what is studied when one studies a worldview. The study of “ideas” clearly relates to the doctrinal and philosophical dimension of a worldview. It could also relate to the mythical and ethical dimensions, but the ethical dimension, as I have previously mentioned, can be encompassed by the philosophical dimension.

The word “feelings” points to the experiential or emotional dimension. However, in the very next sentence, Smart talks about “What people believe” and “whether or not what they believe is true”. This language again points towards the doctrinal or philosophical dimension. Experiences and emotions are not the sort of thing that can be true (or false). Rituals are not the sort of thing that can be true (or false). Organizations and institutions are not the sort of thing that can be true (or false). While myths and stories can be thought of as being true (or false), myths and religious stories are often believed to have significance apart from whether they are literally true (or false).

When Smart talks about “what exists inside the heads of people” this relates most directly to beliefs and feelings and experiences, but not directly to rituals, practices, organizations, or institutions.

The focus on “beliefs” continues at the end of the second paragraph:

To some extent anthropology tried to give objective accounts of foreign beliefs, but often the other cultures were treated as uncivilized or inferior. To some extent there were attempts through comparative religion to describe foreign beliefs, and sometimes Christian missionaries managed warm accounts of other faiths. (Worldviews, p.2)

In these sentences Smart equates other “worldviews” and “other faiths” with “foreign beliefs,” not with “foreign rituals” , not with “foreign practices”, not with “foreign experiences”, not with “foreign organizations”, not with “foreign institutions.” So, at both the beginning and the end of the second paragraph of the Introduction, Smart focuses on beliefs/claims, and this suggests that the doctrinal or philosophical dimension of a religion or of a worldview is more important, more central, than the other dimensions.

In paragraph three of the Introduction, Smart discusses the importance of “epoche” or suspension of judgment when one is studying the worldview of another people or culture. One should, Smart says, “suspend your own beliefs about the other (whether that be culture, or group, or individual)”(Worldviews, p. 2, emphasis added). So, the modern study of religions and worlviews attempts to acheive objectivity by setting aside one’s own “point of view”. Thus, one’s own beliefs and point of view can bias one’s understanding of other religions and other worldviews. Presumably, this is because the beliefs one has as, say a Christian, may conflict with the beliefs held by people who have a different religion or worldview (say Islam or Buddhism or Marxism). So, it apears that paragraph three of the Introduction also suggests that beliefs are central to religions and worldviews.

Paragraph four provides a brief characterization of “worldview analysis” and once again focuses on “beliefs”:

The study of religions and ideologies can be called “worldview analysis.” In this we try to depict the history and nature of the symbols and beliefs that have helped form the structure of human consciousness and society. This is the heart of the modern study of religion. (Worldviews, p.2, emphasis added)

Note that Smart does NOT say that “worldview analysis” depicts the history and nature of “rituals” or “experiences” or “feelings” or “organizations” or “institutions”. I will argue later that “symbols” have a very close connection with the beliefs and claims of a religion or worldview.

At the beginning of paragraph six, Smart talks about our understanding of “others’ beliefs and values”, and about exploring the “thoughts and values of others” in characterizing efforts to “explore other people’s religions”. At the end of paragraph six, Smart talks about bias that existed in the early history of “the comparative study of religion”:

But such explorations were often somewhat supercilious in regard to alien faiths. Westerners were often inclined to dub other beliefs as primitive. (Worldviews, p.3, emphasis added)

He does not say that there was an inclination to dub “other experiences” as primitive, or “other rituals” as primitive, or “other institutions” as primitive. Once again, Smart’s focus is on “beliefs”, thus suggesting that the doctrinal or philosophical dimension of a worldview is more important, more central than the other dimensions.

In short, in the opening paragraphs of the Introduction to Worldviews, Ninian Smart repeatedly talks about worldviews in terms of “beliefs”, “ideas”, “thoughts”, and, perhaps most importantly in terms of truth (or falsehood):

What people believe is an important aspect of reality whether or not what they believeis true. (Worldviews, p.1-2)

This emphais on “beliefs” is also present in the very title of the book:

Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs

Therefore, although Smart argues that the modern study of religion should touch on at least six different dimensions, it also seems to be the case that he recognizes that “beliefs” or the doctrinal or philosophical dimension is of greater importance (or is more central) than the other dimensions or aspects of a religion or a worldview.

In the next post, I will start walking though the other five dimensions of worldviews, and examining how they relate to “beliefs” or to the doctrinal or philosophical dimension of worldviews.